Egypt

Egypt opens Rafah border crossing for 4 days

Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to travelers from both sides for the second day in a row on Sunday.
 
An official source at the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side said the crossing saw 457 travelers come from Gaza to the Egyptian side on Saturday, and 591 others traveling from Egypt to the Gaza Strip.
 
The border crossing is scheduled to remain open until Tuesday evening for humanitarian cases, students, bearers of Egyptian passports, and patients who have scheduled treatment in Egypt.
 
Egypt's shuttering of Rafah and destruction of cross-border smuggling tunnels, along with tight restrictions imposed by Israel along its own frontier with Gaza, have deepened economic misery for many of the 1.9 million Palestinians in the enclave.
 
Egypt has largely kept its border with the Gaza Strip closed since Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was ousted as president three years ago.
 
Egyptian officials view Gaza's governing Hamas group as a threat, accusing it of supporting an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai peninsula bordering the Palestinian territory. Hamas denies the allegation.
 
Israel says its blockade prevents the movement of militants and stops construction materials that could be used by Hamas to make bunkers and tunnels. Palestinians there say they are under siege and are unable to rebuild homes destroyed by Israeli bombing in a 2014 war.
 

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